Syria Blames Israeli Secret Service for Bus Bombing in Damascus

Published: January 3, 1997

DAMASCUS, Syria, Jan. 2—
In its first official comment on the bombing of a passenger bus in Damascus on Tuesday, Syria blamed Israel's secret service for the attack, which was reported to have killed 9 people and wounded 44.

In a statement issued today by the official Syrian Arab News Agency, Damascus accused the Israelis of setting off the explosion, saying the attack coincided with ''the escalation of Israeli threats by a number of Israeli officials lately aiming to kill the peace process.''

$(In Washington the State Department spokesman, Nicholas Burns, described the Syrian charge as very serious and urged Damascus to give evidence before making such accusations, Reuters reported.

$(''If the Syrian Government and the Syrian press cannot back up what they are saying, well, they ought not to make that charge,'' Reuters quoted Mr. Burns as saying. ''It's a wild and irresponsible charge if in fact it is not backed up by evidence.''$)

Israel suspended peace talks with Syria in February during a wave of bombings that Israel blamed on Palestinian militants.

The Syrian statement quoted an unidentified Government official as saying that agents of the Israeli secret service ''put a bomb inside a bus, which exploded shortly after the bus began moving toward Aleppo.''

The Syrian statement said nothing about any suspects being arrested or any claims of responsibility. It said 11 victims of the bombing were from one family.

State-run Syrian television showed pictures of the bus Thursday night. The top had been blown off and all its windows broken, as were the windows of nearby buildings. The camera focused on bloodstains on the sides of the bus and pools of blood on the ground. Children's bloodstained schoolbooks were scattered about. The bus was labeled ''Nahas Tours'' on the front.

The attack happened at midday Tuesday just after the bus had left the Baramkeh station in Damascus on its way to Aleppo, Syria.

The news agency said the bus had been on a route from Beirut, Lebanon, to Aleppo but had changed Tuesday to travel from Damascus to Aleppo.

The incident followed a series of attacks on Syrians in Lebanon, where right-wing Christians are strongly opposed to the control exercised by Damascus over the Lebanese government.

In the past two weeks, bombings aimed at Syrians in Lebanon left one person dead and seven wounded. The Syrian-backed Lebanese Government arrested more than 60 people connected to Christian groups that are opposed to Syria's role in the country.

Syria still has some 40,000 soldiers in Lebanon and is the main power in the neighboring country.

News reports in Lebanon have linked the anti-Syria campaign to meetings between Lebanese Christians and Israeli officials.

In May, a series of car bombings were reported in Damascus and the Mediterranean port of Latakia.

The Syrian Government never acknowledged the blasts, but reports of arrests of Syrians of Turkish origin suggested that the authorities suspected a Turkish role in the explosions.

At the time, tensions were high between Syria and Turkey because of a dispute over the Euphrates and a military cooperation agreement signed by Turkey with Israel.

Turkey has repeatedly accused Syria of harboring Kurds who have waged a campaign of violence in southeastern Turkey.